RESEARCH NEEDS FOR SUSTAINABLE COCOA PRODUCTION IN GHANA

A great concern to the industry and the Ghanaian government is the fact that young people are leaving cocoa farming regions to move to the big cities. This reduction in the number of cocoa farmers is a major threat to the cocoa supply chain (Brasser, 2013).

One of the reasons that is often mentioned, is that cocoa farming is not a lucrative business and these young people move to the city in search of more profitable labour. Another potential reason is that living conditions in rural areas are not motivating youth to stay. Moreover, people’s perception of rural living, and more specifically cocoa farming, is influencing this decision. In Ghana it is generally understood that people with a good education do not go into farming, but instead move to the city to get an office job. Therefore, farming is seen as something for poor and uneducated people, whereas the city represents opportunities (Anon., personal communication). In reality many of these young people in the city seem to end up living in poor conditions in with very limited income. However the idea of being more successful when living in an urban area persists and moving back is not an option due to it being perceived as failure.

Therefore, cocoa farming needs to become a more profitable and again become a respected business. Moreover, other activities around cocoa farming could provide productive employment for young people. They could be involved in tree planting and pruning or can be trained to become community extension agents or to get active in establishing farmer organisation (Anon., personal communication). All the above, however, are just hypotheses and no studies have been done on why these young people leave cocoa farming and what can change their minds.

Finally, it is sometimes mentioned that child labour is linked to young people leaving cocoa farming. Getting involved with farming activities at a young age could make children motivated to continue in their parents footsteps, though bad experiences might actually lead to more negative associations with cocoa farming (Anon., personal communication).